NRF expects nearly 148M will shop on 'Super Saturday' this year

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Dive Brief:

The National Retail Federation anticipates 147.8 million U.S. consumers will participate in "Super Saturday," the final Saturday for holiday shopping before Christmas Day. That estimate includes online and in-store activity.

Eighty-six percent of holiday consumers started shopping by early December, NRF found, but 56% of respondents said they anticipate purchasing their final gifts in the week leading up to Christmas and 62% of people expect to shop on Super Saturday.

When it comes to holiday returns, 55% said they will return or exchange unwanted gifts within a month of receiving them. Eighty percent of respondents prefer to make returns in-store, and 74% said they're likely to make another purchase when they do. The survey had more than 7,700 respondents.

Dive Insight:

NRF's research shows a consistent increase in Super Saturday shopping: The organization in 2017 estimated 126 million shopped on that day, and last year, that number increased to 134.3 million. But with a solid performance on Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year, it begs the question just how much shoppers actually have left to buy on Saturday?

The five-day shopping weekend between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday saw 189.6 million U.S. shoppers in stores and online, a 14% increase over last year, according to NRF. Shoppers spent an average of $361.90 on "holiday items" including gifts that weekend, 16% more than the year prior. Cyber Monday was Amazon's biggest shopping day in the company's history based on the number of items ordered worldwide; the day had $9.4 billion in sales across retail according to Adobe.

The shorter holiday season, which has six fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas than last year, may play a factor in the size of crowds showing up to shop this weekend.

And though mobile played a big role in Black Friday's success this year, with Bloomreach reporting a 60% increase in spending via desktop and 40% increase in spending through the mobile devices on from last year, consumers may need to look to other channels during this last-minute shopping period. Several retailers' holiday shipping deadlines have already passed, so consumers still ticking gifts off their lists will have to complete their shopping at physical stores — or at least use buy online, pick up in-store fulfillment options.